“The ability to see the child’s point of view”: A critical reflection on the Hans C. Andersen Award criteria (Evelyn Arizpe)

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Can something as little as a picturebook support something as big as language revitalisation? (Nicola Daly)

Te Reo Māori was given legal status in 2007 and in 2016 New Zealand Sign Language was also supported in legislation. Te Reo Māori is the Indigenous language of New Zealand, and after a period of extreme endangerment, since the early 1980s there has been a concerted governmental effort to revitalise Te Reo Māori which has been reflected to in the languages used in picturebooks. Dual language picturebooks involve two written languages in the telling of a story alongside the visual language of the accompanying illustrations. In this lecture I share a timeline showing the increasing use of Te Reo Māori alongside English in children’s literature, and then research in which Māori-English picturebooks were explored with parents of children in an English-medium early childhood setting which was increasing the use of Te Reo Māori in its everyday pedagogy. Findings suggest these small books can indeed increase the use of an endangered Indigenous language in the home by both parents and children.

On Bats, Bunnies and Fungi: The More-than-Human World of Beatrix Potter (Lorraine Kerslake)

It would probably not be an overstatement to say that Beatrix Potter is one of the greatest classic children’s authors of all times. The Tale of Peter Rabbit has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and been translated into over 35 languages. But Potter was far more than a children’s writer and illustrator, and the success of Peter Rabbit has often overshadowed many other facets to her life.

In this talk I will look at Potter’s literary ecology (her engagement with nature, the sources of her inspiration, and her political commitment with the conservation and protection of the environment). I will explore the underlying tensions of domestication and domination that arise in Potter’s art and writing and show how the problematics of gender and nature are linked through her own intricate relationship with the more-than-human world together with the importance of animals in her life and work.

By highlighting the contributions of Potter to the study, protection and writing of nature in the scope of children’s literature I hope to show how her little picture books helped develop attitudes toward conservation of land and animals in the early twentieth century.

Informant deliberations: mediating Arabic children’s literature scholarship between audiences (Yasmine Motawy)

Producing two concurrent editions of a monograph on Egyptian picturebooks, in both Arabic and English, has presented me with a unique opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a western-trained scholar of children’s literature who writes and works in two cultures. The field of children's literature is progressive and sensitive to diversity, but nonetheless still dominated by western epistemology. In the act of applying western frameworks to an Arabic corpus, I am inadvertently working as a native informant; on one hand, mediating valuations, applying theoretical lenses through which Arab cultural production can be arranged, and on the other, defining quality and creativity to a wider Arab audience. In this talk, I reflect on the process, the choices, and the deliberations. I question the extent to which addressing an Arab audience in order to serve the regional book industry and Arab children is an act of conscious and deliberate decolonisation. I also consider what colonial premises I inadvertently reinforce in the act of organizing, highlighting, and disregarding material. And finally, in the absence of a modern Arabic critical literary lens through which to analyze children’s books, I ask what can serve as a possible Arab theoretical framework.

Fairy Tale Analysis and the Material Turn (Iris Schäfer)

Fairy tale research often features a cultural-historical impetus. From the perspective of children’s literary research, the changing function of fairy tales (see Jack Zipes) and the intersection between literary and oral traditions have been focused on. Some scholars also demonstrate that traditional methods of literary studies can lead to illuminating results. In these cases, however, a certain access is chosen, such as gender and spatial theory or depth psychology (see for example Marie-Louise von Franz, Danielle Bilina or Eugen Drewermann). In my lecture, I would like to demonstrate that a transdisciplinary perspective will provide new perspectives on supposedly familiar materials. Using the example of narrated and depicted fairy-tale fashion, I will combine methods of material studies with fashion philosophical (e.g. Georg Simmel) and fashion semiological (e.g. Roland Barthes) considerations, in order to encourage a re-evaluation of supposedly familiar fairy tale motifs as well as methodological approaches.

Politics, Wars, and Intergenerational Trauma. Historical Fiction for Young People as a Transcultural Palimpsest (Mateusz Świetlicki)

Authors of historical fiction set in the twentieth century frequently introduce young readers to little-known aspects of the past by showcasing its links to the present and the prospective future. Mateusz Świetlicki argues that such narratives have the potential not only to enable the transfer of next-generation memory but also to help young people understand the transcultural and transtemporal relevance of wars and genocides and their influence on present-day global politics. Thus, he suggests that some historical novels play the role of metaphorical palimpsests. After all, as Sara L. Schwebel notes, such books “are always products of a particular historical context,” and, therefore, “their characters and historical arguments reflect the knowledge, politics, and worldview of authors at a particular moment in time” (Schwebel 3). During his talk, Świetlicki will analyze patterns and narrative techniques used in palimpsestic historical novels for young people – set during the Second World War, the Holodomor, the Armenian Genocide, and the Cold War – to demonstrate the entanglements of global/local history, present-day politics, and intergenerational trauma.

Children's Literature Beyond Borders (Sara Pankenier Weld)

In this lecture on children’s literature without borders, I first acknowledge earlier uses of related ideas that point to the value of crossing boundaries for the greater good. I then discuss children’s literature without borders, as a scholar who has always resisted borders and boundaries, whether national, linguistic, disciplinary or between audiences. I consider how children’s literature research benefits from challenging boundaries by citing a variety of examples from the study of children’s literature across time periods, regions, and audience categorizations to argue that the children’s literature research benefits from conscious efforts to resist the borders and boundaries that divide us, whether in time, space, language, or age. I first assert that children’s literature has a long history of being without borders, while children’s literature is world literature and has always crossed fluidly between nations. I then consider how scholarly practices and translation going beyond an Anglophone or European purview and incorporating more global and underrepresented perspectives enriches scholarship. Finally I argue that the boundaries between children’s literature and literature for adults should be challenged in productive ways that also resist the sequestering of children’s literature research.

From Scratch (Els Beerten)

Starting anew is an age-old desire. In stories, it's possible because in stories, anything is possible. But these are not mine. In 'From Scratch,' I explore my own discovery of the illusion of beginning again and my desire to set my characters on a journey against overwhelming obstacles. Ultimately, I aim to challenge the notion of carrying past experiences forward, advocating for acceptance amidst life's complexities.

In my latest novel, 'The Rest of Our Lives,' Fredo Santoro reflects on the resilience of the human spirit after losing almost everything in war: "A person is never made of sugar. We are all flesh and blood, with a heart that beats and cannot be stopped. That's why we embark on journeys, cross oceans, yearn for warmth, ride trains to distant mines, sleep in barns, and clean up other people's messes. And as we do so, we watch the horizon draw a line under our past, hoping for the miracle of starting over. Yet, while it's impossible, everything that once was remains. A person moves forward with everything they've experienced, leaving nothing behind. And perhaps, that's their greatest fortune."